So I'm going to share with you how you can produce your sweetest Irish mince-pies in your own kitchen, and you wouldn't need a pinch of added sugar!
Lets start! - Here is what you will need first for the mincemeat:
- 2 (cooking)apples (mix perhaps 1 sweet apple with 1 cooking
apple)
- Zest + juice of 2 oranges and of 2 lemons
- 250g shredded suet (got ours from the health food store)
- ca. 850g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants
- 2 tsp mixed spice
- 1 big spoonful of honey
- 75ml white wine
- optional: 50g shredded almonds, some coconut flakes
Those little steps in order to make your very own mincemeat are just so simple, aren't they? You will never want to go to the store anymore to buy the ones loaded with sugar - once you know the little secret of this! And children are just to happy to have the mixing spoon ready to help you all along with it! Next step: Give your mincemeat some rest for about 2 weeks in order to develop the right flavor. |
And this is the step when your well rested and well flavored mincemeat will be one of the two main ingredients of your mince-pies. The other one: The pastry! Let's do it. It's as easy as the first steps described above. All you need is flour and butter (in a 2:1 ratio by weight) and a little bit of water to make your dough easy to knead and perhaps a pinch of salt. |
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On top of your now filled pastry goes another one of those circles. Press the two bits together, and off they go into the preheated oven. They will bake for about 20mins in 180 Degrees Celsius. Soon, very soon your kitchen gets the smell of an enchanted Christmas bakery! Hmm...Store best in an airtight container and enjoy your very own homemade mince-pies!
With that we wish you all a very happy and blessed Christmas wherever you
are!
And for the new year: Keep your dreams up, try out new things, and never ever give up until you become a master of those things you had to try out first!